Page 109 - Martial Science Magazine Special Edition 2015

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pan. People in those days called the Ninjas, Igamo-
no or Kogamono. Iga and Koga are neighbors. Yet,
the Iga Ninja groups were more famous and much
WHAT IS A larger than the Koga Ninja. According to “the Ban-
senshukai” (the Bible of the Ninjas, Ninja encyclo-
pedia), It says Iga was the birthplace of Ninjas.

Ninja’s main work was to investigate the strengths
NINJA? and strategies of one’s enemies. It was very impor-

tant to get the enemy’s information to their lord.
By Hiroshi Ikeda So, usually the work was not to assassinate peo-
ple, but to gather information. Of course, Iga Nin-
jas were also trained to destroy the weapons and
castles, especially using fire power. Ninjas were far
from assassins.

How did the area of Iga come to train Ninja? First
the Iga area was surrounded by mountains. And
these conditions brought in extreme amount of fog
all year round. During the Sengoku period, it was
convenient for many samurais or lords who were
beaten in battles to hide in Iga. So, it was very di-
fficult to track down the hiding samurais or lords.
During the 11th century, Todaiji temple, which was
the biggest temples in those days, ruled the Iga te-
rritories. There were many groups against the rule
of Todaiji. Todaiji called them “Kuroda no Akuto.”
The terms “Kuroda no Akuto” came to mean Iga
Ninja later. At that time, there was an intense ba-
ttle between Todaiji temple and Kofukuji temple,
which was the second biggest temples, for the te-
rritories of Iga. And Iga area was also the place of
“Shugendo,” a remote mountainous religion where
people received mysterious powers from God. And
that Many Toraijin (Chinese or Korean immigrants
who during these ancient times, introduced their
high level culture to Japan) existed in Iga as the aca-
demics.

Historically, Ninjas were people with skills in spe- This was a perilous time, when no government ru-
cial military techniques, active in the feudal days led Iga. That is to say, Iga was a very complicated
of Japan. area.

I will be telling Ninjas from the Iga area (now in In the process of destroying Shoen, (the Japane-
Mie prefecture). And, Ninjas from the Koga area se old land system) the Iga samurais were mixed
(now in Shiga prefecture) was also famous. These among those people who lived and hid in the area.
two areas had the most distinguished Ninjas in Ja- And Iga Ninjas were completed at last. During

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